In stark contrast to traditional Kyoto is modern, bustling Tokyo which embodies all of the western stereotypes of modern Japanese culture. Pachinko parlors, slot machines, video games, omnipresent karaoke, Godzilla — all here. When my friend Kevin and I ventured to Tokyo for five days though our favorite thing ended up being a small jazz bar called JBS (Jazz, Blues, Soul) operated by an older gentleman named Mr. Kobyashi. He serves top shelf Japanese whiskey for $4 dollars (comparable to a 16- 18 year old stateside). It only holds 10 people — most of the space is made to accommodate a very impressive vinyl record collection (10,000+) of jazz, blues and soul. We asked Mr. Kobyashi if there is an album he doesn’t own. He says “Two Headed Freap” by Ronnie Foster. We spend the subsequent day attempting to locate it in used vinyl stores in different neighborhoods around Tokyo to no avail. When I return to Tokyo next I will be bringing a copy of Two Headed Freap for Mr. Kobyashi.
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I arrived in Seoul on December 15th having no idea what to expect. I’ve never visited Korea before and I hardly know anything about its ancient or modern culture; but my perceptions led me here. It might seem silly to admit that part of my curiosity was piqued by the Samsung brand over the past 5 years. After inadvertently purchasing a new Samsung refrigerator, mobile phone and watching Samsung out work Apple, the richest company in the world — I came to respect the country that could harbor such a hard-working underdog — a country I had never really thought much about. All of a sudden I was thinking more about it and noticing other brands I liked – LG, Hyundai (I rented a Genesis, the upscale, under-priced rival to the BMW S3 four years ago — a really great car) and I decided there must be something in the water over in Seoul that was causing these guys to kick so much ass. My perceptions were not off base — South Korea is really a fascinating place that has been incredibly fun to explore. What’s most surprising is that historically, Korea hasn’t been in the market of winning, but losing (to Japan mostly). […]
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Not my favorite destination upon arrival, Hanoi turned out to be a comfortable place to live for a couple of weeks after I became accustomed to the loud noises, smog and chaotic volume of unyielding traffic. I was in a three bedroom apartment across from the Daewoo Center, a skyscraper/department store/grocery store. The heart of Hanoi and the center which draws most of the tourism is about 20 minutes away from where I was. I joined a gym twenty minutes walk away and spent most of my time in Hanoi focused on cooking, eating and lifting. I got a new personal best on my back squat in Thailand the previous month and wanted to keep my momentum going. Highlights of Hanoi included the water puppet show (every time I say “water puppets” I smile — the concept itself is entertaining in and of itself), custom-ordering dress shirts and pants from a local tailor (they took 10 different measurements on my upper-body alone), doing Hatha yoga in a class of Vietnamese women, taught by an Indian instructor, in English and this incredibly strange interpretive dance performance that I attended. I’ve gotta say – for all the romanticism ascribed to Vietnam by post-war America […]
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Pammukale or the “cotton castle” is a geological mineral formation upon which the ancient city of Hierapolis was built. Today it’s a popular tourist destination also owing to “Cleopatra’s pool” a popular desert oasis and swimming hole.
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Ephesus is one of the largest and most important classical Greek and Roman archaeological sites from antiquity. A port city of strategic advantage, it changed hands over the 700 years it was inhabited. Because of its size and importance it is a popular tourist destination; while there are a lot of excavated ruins, I found the reconstructions less interesting and harder to visualize than those at Pergamon.
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My undergraduate degree is in ancient history and Latin translation. That’s nothing like what I do professionally, nevertheless classical antiquity has always fascinated me. None more than the mythology and oral tradition of the Illiad – the war of the Greeks and Trojans over three thousand years ago. As such I had to visit Troy, the city bombarded by those filthy Greeks for 9 years. These days the ruins of the almost dozen layers of Troy (each representing a different city and cultural tradition) serve as a photo-taking destination (complete with a hokey, giant, wooden horse) and archaeological-history lesson. I wasn’t expecting to see or learn very much and I was not disappointed. The low-light coming from a souvenir shop incorrectly identifying a statue of Laocoön and his sons being killed my minions of Athena as Herakles fighting serpents; misinformation is a pet peeve of mine. Nevertheless I’m glad I made the pilgrimage to the city I’ve dreamed about and imagined for almost 20 years – it adds a remarkable context to fuel my imagination further.
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Pergamon is my favorite ancient classical destination in Turkey. Perched atop a mountain to aid fortifications, the acropolis covered just a small area of land affording a dense archaeological record and a small, tightly reconstructed area to explore today. Though the Germans looted many relics from the site (and now showcase them in Berlin’s Pergamonmuseum — which I visited the week after I visited Pergamon), the site still seems in terrific shape compared to Troy or Ephesus. I was giddy to know that in Roman times one of my favorite emperor’s, Marcus Aurelius, visited the famous hospital of Pergamon, at the sanctuary of Aesclepius to recover from an illness. Also historically significant was a library found here which Mark Antony gave to Cleopatra as a wedding gift. It was easy to imagine life in ancient Pergamon among such historical contexts.
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